Today I am going to write about something that I am passionate about, and something that is very near and dear to my heart. Today I am going to write about AHOPE.

AHOPE stands for African HIV Orphans: Project Embrace. AHOPE Ethiopia is an orphanage for HIV+ children in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. AHOPE Ethiopia is a NGO (non-governmental organization).

AHOPE for Children is the non-profit corporation licensed in the state of Washington that funds AHOPE Ethiopia. AHOPE for Children is also recognized by the U.S. Treasury Department as a tax-exempt charity.

I first came to hear about AHOPE when I announced on an Ethiopia adoption email group that Josh and I would be traveling to Ethiopia in Feb. of 2006 to adopt our son. A volunteer emailed and asked if we would be willing to take some pictures and video for AHOPE’s fundraising efforts. My husband happens to be a photographer, as is his boss who was traveling with us, so we happily agreed.

As I started to learn about AHOPE, I was deeply touched by the work they were doing. I watched the short video at the bottom of this page, and cried at the thought of an orphanage full of children with HIV.

I organized a fundraiser through our church for AHOPE, and we left with four suitcases full of donations that they needed, including clothes, school supplies and basic medical supplies like Band-Aids and Neosporin.

And yet as anxious as I was to help, I was not planning on visiting AHOPE myself. I remember telling Josh that I would send him, and I would stay at the hotel with our son. I honestly did not think I could handle it. I did not think my heart could stand spending an afternoon with an orphanage full of sick children.

I didn’t know anything about HIV at that point. I thought the kids would all be very sickly. I thought that AHOPE would be a very sad and dreary place. I assumed there would be a lot of suffering.

When the time came to go to AHOPE, Josh and I were out and about together. I had been through and seen so much that week, my first week ever in Africa, that I felt like I could handle anything at that point.

I had seen mothers dressed in rags, living on the streets, with looks of hopelessness in their eyes as they thoughtlessly brushed flies from the faces of their babies; babies who looked like they were starving to death right then and there. I had seen small children working harder than I have ever worked. I saw handicapped people crawling in the road. I stood in an orphanage and had countless orphaned children hang on my arms and call me “Mama” and do anything they could to get a precious moment of attention.

I saw a more severe level of poverty than I had ever guessed even existed.

My thoughts and emotions were on overload. On our way to AHOPE, my attitude was pretty much, “bring it on.”

And yet when we got there, it only took seconds for me to realize that I had been seriously wrong about what I expected to find. It was a bright, airy and cheery place. As soon as our cab stopped, beautiful, smiling and healthy-looking children came running out of the front door to greet us. The kids sang and played and posed for pictures and clamored for attention, just like the children at the other orphanages we went to. It was fun to be there.

We spoke with the wonderful people that work there, including the director, Sidisse Buli. We found out that when AHOPE first opened, they were known by the community as “the House of the Dead” and they had to ensure that they could afford a funeral for every child that they took in. There was no hope that the children would live long.

We were told that in 2004, life-saving anti-retro viral medication became available to AHOPE, and suddenly the children were living. They were living in good health.

When a person that is very sick with HIV/AIDS receives the ARV medications, the turnaround in their health and appearance is typically so sudden and drastic that they call it the “Lazarus Effect”. The effect in children is often the most dramatic.

And just like that, the focus of AHOPE changed. No longer were they keeping children comfortable and trying to make life as pleasant as possible for them while they were dieing. They had children that were living. They had children who needed long-term care, educations and skills to transition into adulthood. They even had some children who were being placed for international adoption.

As I listened to all of this, something deep in side of me just clicked. Something deep down said, “These kids are your calling.” And so they are.

That day at AHOPE I found wonderful people doing amazing things. I found hope and strength and beauty in a place I hadn’t expected to find anything but sadness and suffering. I found my calling.

And I found a daughter.

When Belane walked into the room at AHOPE that day, freshly awoken from her afternoon nap, I honestly lost my breath. I knew her as mine immediately. I later told my friend that as Belane climbed into my arms, it felt more like a reunion than a chance meeting.

I left AHOPE that day with my heart and my mind spinning. Six months later I returned to AHOPE to bring my daughter home for good. Since that first visit to AHOPE I have learned a lot about HIV. I have taught many others about HIV. I have committed a piece of my life to the children left behind, children all alone in the world, fighting a devastating disease.

Read my next post to find out more about the current projects going on at AHOPE and how you can help the HIV+ children of Ethiopia.


Resources:
There Is No Me Without You

My posts on Belane, her adoption and her health.